I think people may be forgetting that a big reason Faye's mom was so angry at Faye's sister was that she took her credit card and bought a plane ticket to Massachusetts. She may be quite a bit more tolerant of Faye, considering she hasn't done anything like that to her.

'Cept for breakin' her poor heart and moving north and livin' with a Yankee boy!

While I don't think that Faye's mother would blow up, I could see her being the kind of person who would deny that her daughter was in a relationship. She might even be the kind of person to deny that an AI was a real person and see Bubbles as a fad or a toy.

Not outright cruel, but more unknowingly ignorant.

Logged

Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart but I am street smart.", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I am imaginary smart."

As a parent, I know that the second time you go through something it's less of a crisis. After her sister coming out, Faye's mom is more likely to just shake her head, and wonder where she went wrong. Not that that's accepting, of course. But the reaction will be nowhere near the explosion people are predicting.

'Cept for breakin' her poor heart and moving north and livin' with a Yankee boy!

While I don't think that Faye's mother would blow up, I could see her being the kind of person who would deny that her daughter was in a relationship. She might even be the kind of person to deny that an AI was a real person and see Bubbles as a fad or a toy.

Not outright cruel, but more unknowingly ignorant.

"You see, if you had stayed aroundand found yourself a nice boy, you wouldn't need that sentient... no, I'm not even saying that. The moment you meet a nice, young man, this thing will return to be what it is: a sentient repair tool."

... That sounds way harsher than I meant it to be, but it's still a possibility.

I don't think anyone will freak out, but now that we've gotten past Claire and Tai (who have already reacted), my money's on Momo as the one to be most excited. She has shown interest in human/AI romantic pairings on an emotional level (May's musings seem more mechanical). I think she will see this as a "Big Step Forward".

Today's strip is so cute, primarily because it's nearly an archetype of Claire and Clinton's relationship. They're always bickering but they're always close and, like it or not, they're always the first one the other goes to when they have big news (mostly, I suspect, because they enjoy seeing the other's reactions). Now... it occurs to me that Claire has definitely been making plans for when Marten pops the question... and so, I suspect, has Jeph.

The strip also emphasises something about which I have always been certain - That the only people who didn't know Faye and Bubbles were attracted to each other were Faye and Bubbles themselves. The general response to Claire's news will be: "Wait, so you're saying this is a new thing?"

Random thought: do Clinton and Claire ONLY talk when taking walks through the city? All their strips together are outdoors.

Maybe it's Clinton's sense of being defensive of Claire: He wants them to be somewhere outdoors so she can be free to say something that she wouldn't want to say in an enclosed space, possibly with lots of people nearby.

Today's strip is so cute, primarily because it's nearly an archetype of Claire and Clinton's relationship. They're always bickering but they're always close and, like it or not, they're always the first one the other goes to when they have big news (mostly, I suspect, because they enjoy seeing the other's reactions). Now... it occurs to me that Claire has definitely been making plans for when Marten pops the question... and so, I suspect, has Jeph.<SNIP>

"When"?

I would vote Marten to be Least Likely to Propose Marriage to ANYONE in this strip.

Been thinking about Claire's character and one thing I notice is how organised she is in every aspect of her life, particularly in having her own specific expectations in mind of how her plans will turn out: for example, her matchmaking attempts with Clinton and Emily; today's comic where she mentions having a detailed plan for a hypothetical engagement party; and expecting a more shocked reaction from Clinton upon telling him about Faye and Bubbles.

This explains why librarianship appeals to her so much as a job: everything is arranged as it should be and Claire is in control of that arrangement. It also brings me back to a comparison I made previously: Claire (post-timeskip, at least) reminds me very much of Emma Woodhouse (of the eponymous Jane Austen novel) with her fondness for matchmaking but also her failure to gauge others' feelings/reactions in the process. I do wonder whether this might have been deliberate on Jeph's part, as she's been shown previously to be a Jane Austen fan.

I also like the idea of Claire one day meeting Penelope and getting to compare book collections :3

Regarding the poll, I'm curious to see Sam's reaction given her sense of wonder upon discovering cool robot-related things. "People can date robots!? Skullmaster approves!"

Ma Whittaker will have a difficult time maintaining in the face of the Big News.

Angus will return and promptly lose his feces. This will prompt Ma Whittaker to re-consolidate her own and bitch-slap Angus (maybe even literally) saying something to the effect of, "You had your chance, you damnyankee1 cur!"

1 For non-USAian readers, some Southerners have a remarkable linguistic ability to pronounce "damned yankee" as one syllable. There is no really accurate way to render it typorgaphically, it must be heard to be appreciated.

For non-USAian readers, some Southerners have a remarkable linguistic ability to pronounce "damned yankee" as one syllable. There is no really accurate way to render it typorgaphically, it must be heard to be appreciated.

I've got Southern parents (Oxford & Waveland MS) and grandparents (Cookville Sparta, TN), and this was the best thing I've read all day.See also: The words that wound (he tries so hard), and those that kill (bless his heart).

Ma Whittaker's lament is going to amount to, "Sigh. Well, damnit, I was hopin' at least one of 'em would have grandkids, but it looks like that ain't happening...." I know bigotry is a stereotype for Georgia, but that's all it is. Faye seems to have arrived without a bunch of attitudes about gays, blacks, etc, and her sister Amanda, who is actually in an interracial lesbian relationship, had Ma Whittaker upset because of *financial* irresponsibility, not bigotry. So it looks like neither of them got that kind of intolerance at home.

Angus and Faye weren't waiting for each other anyway as far as I recall. If he's at all upset, he's going to blame himself for walking away, not Bubbles for being there for Faye when he wasn't. It's also likely that he's dating someone else now, and afraid that Faye is going to be upset with him. Cue comedy when respective partners both roll their eyes.

Sven, on the third hand, I can see getting smacked a little bit when he asks a crude question about whether Faye & Bubbles are into threesomes.

Today's strip is so cute, primarily because it's nearly an archetype of Claire and Clinton's relationship. They're always bickering but they're always close and, like it or not, they're always the first one the other goes to when they have big news (mostly, I suspect, because they enjoy seeing the other's reactions). Now... it occurs to me that Claire has definitely been making plans for when Marten pops the question... and so, I suspect, has Jeph.<SNIP>

"When"?

I would vote Marten to be Least Likely to Propose Marriage to ANYONE in this strip.

This. Many times over. Marten is the poster boy for "let's just leave things as they are."

Random thought: do Clinton and Claire ONLY talk when taking walks through the city? All their strips together are outdoors.

That does seem to be the most likely case yes. Probably because both are busy in school so they don't have a lot of time to get together. Add to that the fact that their friends circles are more adjacent than overlapping and that it seem Clinton goes to a school near, but not in Northampton. He's mentioned several times when visiting that he needs to catch a bus to get home. That's how he met Brun after all. Since everything seems to be pretty much in walking distance for the cast, that means he doesn't live here, but close enough that he can hop on a regular bus to visit his friends and family in Northampton often.

Today's strip is so cute, primarily because it's nearly an archetype of Claire and Clinton's relationship. They're always bickering but they're always close and, like it or not, they're always the first one the other goes to when they have big news (mostly, I suspect, because they enjoy seeing the other's reactions). Now... it occurs to me that Claire has definitely been making plans for when Marten pops the question... and so, I suspect, has Jeph.<SNIP>

"When"?

I would vote Marten to be Least Likely to Propose Marriage to ANYONE in this strip.

This. Many times over. Marten is the poster boy for "let's just leave things as they are."

On the other hand, at least once, Marten has been the one to take the initiative and push for the relationship. When he talked to Claire the morning after the head-skritching incident, that was hardly "leaving things as they are". Having sex for the first time was kind of a spontaneous reaction to Faye's near-death experience, and Claire moving in was a "huh, guess you already have, might as well make it official" thing, but there's no reason to think that if, say, Faye or Dora or Clinton put the idea in Marten's head by asking if he had any thoughts about it, he wouldn't do the same thing he did once the idea of dating Claire took root and go after it.

I'm not saying I think it's going to happen any time soon, but Claire seems to like things being done a certain way, and I wouldn't be surprised if she were the type who expected a man to propose to her instead of the other way around. I can see Marten being the one to propose, just not without a little push from a friend.

Wow! Clinton having a totally normal reaction to hearing that two people he doesn't really know that well started dating! And of course he would understand that yes, it's happened before, and no, it's not a big deal.

I almost feel like they've switched and Claire is being slightly robophobic here. Clinton is like, okay, and? As he should be.

I love Clinton's triumphant stance in the last panel today - do you get the impression he doesn't win many arguments with Claire?

I put 'Tai' in the poll, but that is only in the regular cast - I think Faye might have reason to worry about her mother...

What I really want to see is Marigold's response when she finds out - she just recovers from "The Bone Zone" last week and now her over-active imagination has a whole new kind of relationship to explore...

I think that the big problem here is the Claire has difficulty differentiating between real-life and shipping her favourite fictional characters. It's completely okay for an entire fandom to geek out if a ship is confirmed. It is completely okay for you to be happy for two friends if they get into a relationship. It's slightly weird if you expect everyone even remotely connected to them to geek out about it, as if it were a mass-media event.

Mostly, though, she was hoping to handle her own excitement through the catalyst of telling Clinton to calm down!

This is true but total inaction requires that no external forces impact on the relationship. That likely isn't the case and he's going to have to make choices if he even wants to maintain the status quo.

1 For non-USAian readers, some Southerners have a remarkable linguistic ability to pronounce "damned yankee" as one syllable. There is no really accurate way to render it typorgaphically, it must be heard to be appreciated.

One does not realise how much slang you use until you meet a foreigner who has no idea what you're talking about. People around here know there's enough non-US readers to give insight to the... more extreme non-standard linguistics, like Southern expressions. And that warms my heart.

I somewhat know what Southern US English sounds like, but I guess I never went far enough south to imagine how you can single syllable damn yankee.

"She's been hoist". Not "hoisted", which is American. It's a quote from Shakespeare, who wasn't.("For tis the sport to have the engineer hoist with his own petard" - Hamlet, Act III, Scene 4).

"Petar(d)":

A rather basic form of early bomb used in the breaking of sieges (especially for blasting through fortification gates). Shaped a bit like a bell with a rim at the mouth end, a bit like a large top hat. You'd run up to the door, nail it mouth-first to the woodwork by the rim (and/or prop it up with a framework a bit like an easel), light the (short) fuse, and run for cover like your life depended on it - because it did. "Hoist with his own petard" is the fanciful image of some poor beggar blown high into the air ("hoist") by the explosion of the bomb he didn't get clear of in time.

Wondering how long til Clinton lets slip to Marten that Claire has an engagement party plan.Which leads to Marten talking to Faye about it.Which leads to some hilarious hi-jinks (remember when we used to have those!? ) but eventually does actually end with the engagement.

(And as soon as ONE set of friends gets engaged... it's like a cascade effect!)

Random thought: do Clinton and Claire ONLY talk when taking walks through the city? All their strips together are outdoors.

That does seem to be the most likely case yes. Probably because both are busy in school so they don't have a lot of time to get together. Add to that the fact that their friends circles are more adjacent than overlapping and that it seem Clinton goes to a school near, but not in Northampton. He's mentioned several times when visiting that he needs to catch a bus to get home. That's how he met Brun after all. Since everything seems to be pretty much in walking distance for the cast, that means he doesn't live here, but close enough that he can hop on a regular bus to visit his friends and family in Northampton often.

Clinton’s at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, about 10 miles from downtown Northampton on the other side of the river. There’s pretty frequent bus service between them.